The Holy Spirit In The Church Of Laodicea
[Introduction] [Part I] [Part II] [Part III] [Footnotes]
Part III (continued)
Now Is The Time To Build!
Friends, I come to the conclusion of my letter, and of my burden for you. I'm coming to you as one who has been a landlubber, a seafarer, and an ark builder. I've seen the situation. I believe God has given me the truth to give you concerning the Spirit. I'm walking this intricate process out in my own life, and have been for 20 years. Right now, I'm writing you from a position of dry land after a seven year stint in a laodicean lake. I'm rebuilding parts of my ark where it has been damaged. After I have recovered and patched my ark, I will again embrace the sea. And then I will withdraw again. And so on, until one final wave puts me over the top into glorified life. This is the goal for all of us as I understand it.
Today, I'm talking to some who are landlubbers and with good cause fear the spirit-filled laodicean church. I'm also talking to others who are spirit-filled sea lovers, expert swimmers in the anointed gifts of prophecy, healing, worship, and you-name-it, yet drowning under weights of laodiceanism. To one and all I say, now is the time to build your ark and start testing it for seaworthiness. There's still time, but not much! Soon the tide of the Spirit will be so great that there will be nothing left with which to build and no time to build it.
Now I do know that many of you do believe in ark building. You are fundamentally committed to the Spirit of Truth and relationship with the Father. But the enemy has kept you from building your ark or testing it. Many of you love the Spirit of Truth and have some independent intimacy with the Father, but not enough to test what you have built against the sea. As a result, you have become the equivalent of deeper life landlubbers and nothing more. Others of you think you have a strong ark because you have a good surfboard. You love the Lord too, but your intimacy is polluted by over-exposure to the church and your obedience is compromised by over-commitment to an anointed machine. You're in love with the Father, but the robotics of corporate worship has caused your own fragrance to die.
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Wherever you find yourself relative to the Holy Spirit's ministry today, I pray that what I have written will help you find that perfection and solve the same dilemma that I continue to overcome in my own life. With Paul, I share the desire to see every man presented as perfect in Christ Jesus. I have no greater desire than to see everyone I know as a friend integrate the Holy Spirit's dual nature to become completed in Christ's image. Personally, I have no other motive or agenda in being your friend, and it is the only reason I have written you.
If my friendship with you can help you overcome this most trying of spiritual challenges, then I am here for you. I invite you to write me and tell me where your difficulty is in this arena. I will pray for you. If you are near, I will pray with you. My final prayer is that you will always be able to look back on this writing and on our relationship as something that helped you on in your own pursuit of glory. I close by commending each of you to the grace of God in working out this "so great salvation" with fear and trembling.
Love
Chris Anderson
Merrimack, New Hampshire
First Love Ministry
- a ministry of Anglemar Fellowship
http://www.firstloveministry.org04/97
[Introduction] [Part I] [Part II] [Part III] [Footnotes]
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Page created May 29, 2003